Skip to content
Cabinet VoirinWealth advisoryfor new-build homes
Aerial view of a new pale-stone residence facing the Mediterranean, umbrella pines, golden late afternoon

← All collections

French Riviera

The Riviera remains one of Europe’s most sought-after markets for a second home. New-build here is rare and low-key — and the purchase, often financed by the proceeds of a sale, almost always calls for thought about succession.

Cap d’Antibes · Cannes — Californie · Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat · Villefranche-sur-Mer · Nice — Cimiez

A new-build development to a high standard on the French Riviera.

A light, a clientele, a Mediterranean art of living

Between Cannes and the Italian border, the Riviera coastline lines up a handful of exceptional areas: the Cap d’Antibes peninsula, the heights of Californie in Cannes, the absolute rarity of Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat, the hills of Cimiez overlooking Nice. Here you buy an address, a view, an aspect — and a way of life turned towards the sea, the pines and the climate.

The clientele is international and wealth-minded. Many buyers arrive after selling a company and seek, in Riviera property, both a family home and a transmissible asset. It is a market where discretion and selection matter more than volume.

A constrained and discreet coastal new-build market

The Coastal Act and the scarcity of land sharply limit new construction in these areas. The developments are small, few and far between, finished to a high standard, and demand — largely international — remains greater than supply. The second home dominates, with strong requirements on view, aspect and finishes.

  • Scarce land and the Coastal Act: few new operations, small in size.
  • International demand structurally greater than supply.
  • The second home dominates, highly selective on view and aspect.
  • A market of discretion, where selection matters more than volume.

The territory in pictures

Request your study

Reinvest a sale, prepare the transfer

Here, the stake is not tax in the sense of a saving: a second home enters the IFI base in full, and placing the property in an SCI changes nothing about this as long as you keep the usufruct. The point of a family SCI lies elsewhere: passing it on in fractions of shares, over the years and the allowances. We set out its logic and its limits; the articles, the timetable of gifts and any split ownership are drafted with your notaire.

A concrete case

New-build residence to a high standard on the French Riviera, illustrating the type of property referred to in the case.
Illustrative portrait of an entrepreneur, representative of the profile described — non-contractual image, with no link to any real person.
Profile
Entrepreneur, 58, after selling his company, household liable to the IFI.
Project
New-build second home (off-plan), Cap d’Antibes area, around €1.6m, held through an income-tax family SCI.
Structure
Property held by a family SCI; a gift of the bare ownership of the shares to the children, with the usufruct retained. Passed on in fractions at the pace of the allowances.
100%

Second home in the IFI base

the 30% allowance (art. 973) applies only to the main home

50%

Bare ownership of the shares gifted at 58

scale under art. 669 CGI

€100,000

Allowance per parent per child, every 15 years

up to this limit — arts. 779 and 784 CGI

Illustrative case, rounded figures, anonymised situation subject to an adviser’s analysis. Split ownership has a civil and succession effect, not an IFI reduction: as long as the donor keeps the usufruct, they remain liable to the IFI on the full-ownership value (art. 968 CGI). The €100,000 allowance is applied first; anything above it is taxed on the progressive scale. The IFI is due only above €1,300,000 of net taxable property wealth (art. 964 CGI). The structure is decided with your notaire.

A project in this region?

A wealth study starts from your actual situation: a first structuring outline and the property types suited to this region, followed by a thirty-minute scoping call.

Request your study